What are you canning now?

[KentuckyMom]

Do you have lemon juice? I think I would try that rather than vinegar. I have used lime or lemon juice interchangeably.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I think the lomon juice will "brighten" the flavor - kinda add a nice citrus note to it. I personally would use the lemon juice or lime juice for the flavoring. I notice that a little citrus juice will add just a bit of tangyness and make things better. I go lime juice over a lemon juice anytime.

 

[jomoncon]

Has anyone every canned straight lemon juice - not the lemonade concentrate, just lemon juice? My lemon tree is finally producing a lot of lemons, plus I was gifted with about 2 dozen huge homegrown lemons. I found some instructions here http://www.pickyourown.org/lemonjuice.htm and thought I'd give it a try. I really don't want to freeze the juice, since the freezer's getting pretty full.

I've already removed all the zest & am dehydrating some and making lemon extract with some.

 

[3goodeggs]

I did. But I have not used it yet. My tree has offered me fresh ones for the past few years. I canned assuming we would have some freezes last year, and we did not. I will open some tomorrow and let you know if it was worth doing. I will go set out a jar now.

 

[WYNot]

If the lemon juice is in the recipe for flavor, using fresh squeezed instead of the concentrate shouldn't (ymmv) be an issue. However, if your recipe uses the lemon juice to raise the acid levels to make it safe to waterbath instead of pressure can, then the fresh squeezed wouldn't be a safe alternative.

 

[jomoncon]

WYNot, I use a lot of lemon juice in my everyday cooking. Everything from chicken & fish to desserts. Especially lemon meringue pie. DH's favorite. In canning, it's always bottled. Gotta stay safe!

 

[3goodeggs]

I was going to make some lemonade with it. If it tastes good I'll let you know-either way I will let you know if i will do it again or not. What I can tell you is that it changed color, it is darker. I have nothing to lose by opening a jar, and space to gain if I do.

 

[WYNot]

WYNot, I use a lot of lemon juice in my everyday cooking. Everything from chicken & fish to desserts. Especially lemon meringue pie. DH's favorite. In canning, it's always bottled. Gotta stay safe!

That is what I said, isn't it?

Well, more in reference to canning perhaps. After all this is a canning thread. As for normal, day-to-day cooking then yeah, fresh is always better.If the lemon is in the recipe for flavor, then fresh is fine. If it is in the recipe to raise the acid level for canning, then use concentrate. The stuff in the bottle or in the plastic lemon.

 

[3goodeggs]

Maybe I just have very high acid lemons. The juice that I canned from my lemons is very high acid, sour- sour and enamel dissolving. I think I will save the fresh lemons for drinks and use the canned juice for cooking.

 

[jomoncon]

I got a large bag of delicious naval oranges over the weekend and decided to make some sweet marmalade following this recipe: http://www.the350degreeoven.com/201...e-marmalade-not-the-bitter-type/#comment-4185 I never really cared for the bitter, English type marmalade, and this recipe eliminates the bitterness, yet it still has the peel. A good recipe.